Archive for August, 2007
Good news and bad news about NASA drinking astronauts
As a child of the “space age,” I moaned and groaned with others when stories surfaced in recent months that some of NASA’s astronauts allegedly flew into space and in orbit drunk. But there’s good news on that front: NASA has done a careful investigation and now says unequivocally that no astronauts flew drunk.
You can read the full account by CLICKING HERE.
Specifically, NASA’s Administrator Michael D. Griffin said the account that an unnamed U.S. astronaut flew drunk aboard the Russian Soyuz was absolutely false.
So that’s good news for us all, right? Now the bad news: Even having the stories flying around (pardon my pun) about a drunken astronaut corps diminishes the whole concept of a space program. For gosh sakes, sure, astronauts are human and have failings and shortcomings just like anyone else. But they’re supposed to have the “Right Stuff,” and be the best of the best.
On the other hand, maybe the rumors at least will prompt us to wake up and reevaluate what should be done to rejuvenate our flagging space program. I don’t have the answers, but perhaps all this stuff will get someone asking the right questions who can find the answers.
Ah, well, what do I know? I’m just a guy who reads the papers.
[/tags]NASA, drunken astronauts, space age, space program, just a guy who reads the papers[/tags]